Southern Maine Holds Off Saint Michael's 4-1

            SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Junior goalie Kyle Shapiro (Ocean, N.J.) stopped 33 shots and four players scored their first goals of the season as the University of Southern Maine Huskies defeated the Saint Michael's College Purple Knights 4-1 in a New England Hockey Conference Saturday at Cairns Arena.

            The win gave the Huskies a split of their weekend road trip to the Green Mountain State, and improved their record to 2-1-0 overall and 1-1-0 in the conference.  The Huskies dropped a 4-2 decision at Norwich University on Friday.  The Purple Knights dipped to 1-2-0 overall and 1-1-0 in league play.

            The Huskies gave Shapiro a 1-0 midway through the first period when junior Alex Pantalone (Hudson, Mass.) tallied his first goal of the campaign off assists from classmate Patrick Magliano (Pelham, N.H.) and rookie Brock Padgham (Chilliwack, B.C.).  Shapiro turned aside every shot he saw until late in the second period, then came back in the final period to make 18 saves as the home side turned up the pressure trying to get back into the game.

            The Huskies took advantage of a 5-on-3 situation to score two power-play goals in the middle of the second period to increase their lead to 3-0.  Junior Brett Norman (Dawson Creek, B.C.) picked up his first goal of the season converting a set-up from rookie Brendan Murphy (St. Peters, Mo.) and sophomore Tyler Mathieu (Stillwater Lake, N.S.) at 12:05.  Sixty-seven seconds later, rookie Cody Braga (Middleboro, Mass.) found the net for the first time knocking in the rebound of a shot from senior Cole Klippenstein (Franklin, Tenn.).

            Saint Michael's got on the scoreboard late in the period converting on the power play.  Senior Josh Dickman (Kapaa, Hawaii) was able to beat Shapiro from the slot to score his second goal of the season.

            Needing to turn up the offense, Saint Michael's came out firing in the third period, but Shapiro turned every chance aside.  USM sophomore Parker Sanderson (Bangor, Maine) would score the only goal of the period, coming on another power play, at 12:43.  Magliano and rookie Tristan Dundas (Abbotsford, B.C.) picked up the assists.

            Both teams finished with 34 shots on goal.  USM converted on 3 of 10 power-play opportunities while Saint Michael's was successful on 1 of 6.  SMC sophomore Chris Johnson (Duxbury, Mass.) made 30 saves.

            Southern Maine is home on Friday (7:00 p.m.) to play Daniel Webster College in its only game next week.  Saint Michael's is back in action on Tuesday (6:00 p.m.) hosting Assumption College in a Northeast-10 game. 

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